Dwyane Wade talks with LeBron James #23 while playing the Chicago Bulls during a preseason game at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

When not debating over who is peanut butter and who is jelly during a recent ESPN interview (yes, that actually happened), Dwyane Wade and LeBron James talked about how the disappointment of losing in their first Finals together as teammates in Miami strengthened their relationship.

Wade and James, who are reunited in Cleveland and will play in their first regular season game as teammates tonight against the Celtics since their days with the Heat, said after losing to Dallas in the 2011 Finals they vacationed together for the first time in the Bahamas and sat around “depressed,” and feeling “vulnerable.’

The trip brought them closer and what followed were three more Finals appearances and two titles, a period that, four seasons later, the two are rekindling.

Wade, 35, and James, 32, recently admitted Cleveland, with its versatility and interchangeable parts, is starting to resemble those Miami teams that Pat Riley assembled. That will be more evident with coach Tyronn Lue’s decision to start Kevin Love at center.

“We definitely see it here,” Wade told reporters covering the Cavs. “You see the ability to have Kevin Love start at the five, Jae (Crowder) start at the four. When LeBron’s on the court. … he starts at the three but he’s the same height as the four and five on the other team.”

Those Heat lineups had that versatility because of Chris Bosh’s ability to play center or power forward, James facilitating offense from one of those forward spots and a bench with “positionless’ players.

Wade said that versatility will allow the Cavs to apply some of those same Heat principals on defense, too.

“How aggressive (Bosh) was and then his ability to switch on guards, which a lot of people didn’t give him credit for. … He was an unbelievable defender,” Wade said. “But when he switched on point guards he was a great defender as well. Udonis Haslem was the same way. So yeah, definitely having kind of a similar ability on the defensive end.”

Lue told cleveland.com that he has watched film of the Heat from the Big Three era, starting even before Wade signed on this summer. But now he has even more reasons.

“I’m looking into it,” Lue said. “I just want to keep offense as condensed as possible. Won’t be a lot of thinking, a lot more playing with movement and ball movement. Try not to add too much stuff, just keep the four sets we’ve got, keep adding on those sets and go from there.”

Said Wade: “So many versatile guys and I think that’s one thing that makes everybody here excited, that you could play multiple positions. Even when we’re going over plays. You could put so many different guys in the sets that I think in the past, it was a little different style.

“So I think it’s a good change for these guys. Obviously you’ve got good shooters, but you’ve got enough slashers, penetrators, guys do other things to kind of make it a complete team.”